Adventures of Ash Chii: Chapter 8: Enter the Secret Love Interests
by jazcamille
Summary: This is a section of a fanfiction I wrote when I was 12 and am now putting on the internet for the sake of a podcast (@grandmofftalkin on twitter). Spelling has not been corrected for comedy's sake.


CHAPTER 8 - ENTER THE SECRET LOVE INTERESTS

One day she was out with Sakura walking around the Temple showing tricks to younglings when she felt a since of dread from Echo. She tapped into their twin bond and asked her what's wrong. She closed her eyes when she talked.

Nothing. I don't want to talk about it. I have to go. Echo said. Ash sensed Echo thinking about how lame that excuse was.

You bet that was a lame excuse! Now tell me you nerf-herder! She said.

NO! Echo yelled and backed out of her thoughts. Ash was surprised to sense her sister so touchy like that.

She opened her eyes to see Juno and few younglings looking at her with huge smiles on their faces.

"Do you know when you're talking to your sister you have a smile of a Nexu on your face? Plus, there are a lot of other expressions you go through when you're talking to her," Sakura said smiling. "I was about to crack up laughing."

"Oh, just shut up. I need to talk to you in private," she said and said good-bye to the younglings. As she walked away she told Sakura what was going on.

"Echo isn't letting me in her head. Something's wrong. I couldn't reach deep enough to figure out what it was."

"Maybe she doesn't want you to know. It could be personal," Sakura said.

"When did you turn nice?" Ash said smiling at her.

"There's a side of me you've never seen before," she replied.

"Personally, I like the other side of you better. Anyway, I'm going to try and get her on the comlink," Ash said and unclipped her comlink from her belt. She tried for 10 minutes to reach Echo, but got no response.

"What is up with her? She won't even answer my calls!" Ash said. She tried one more time, but this time a message came over the com that send that the other end had either turned off the comlink of it was not operational.

"Sith blood!" Ash said. "Why does she never answer when it's important?"

"That's sisters for ya," Sakura said.

"I liked you better when you were mean," Ash said.

"Whoa, ease up on the Sith-ness.. I was just trying to be nicer for a change. The Council doesn't necessarily like my attitude, and if I ever want to gain their respect I need to change my attitude."

"So you weren't being nice to make me feel better?" Ash asked.

Sakura laughed.

"Do you think I would ever do that?" she said.

Ash laughed and pushed her away, and then she went back to her room to get some rest.

It started slowly, the pain and the misery. Ash had found out from Mace Windu that he had sent Echo, Hiro, and Kali on a mission to rescue a Knight that had disappeared. Her surprise rose when he told her it was Broze that had went missing. She hadn't even known he was a Knight.. That very same day she began to have bad feelings her head that she suspected came from Echo. They were dark. Something bad was happening to inside her.

Slowly, she began to have intensifying headaches. She couldn't get Echo out of her head. It was like when Echo had been capture by Yorra all those years ago, except this time it hurt a lot more. They had a stronger bond now.

It happened when she was battling Sakura. She thought maybe sparring would take away the thoughts of Echo.

All it did was intensify them.

She was in the air, about ready to land an attack on Sakura when her headache turned into full blown madness.

When she reached the ground, she stumbled and fell. She screamed so loud she thought her ear drums would burst. Inside she felt Echo's pain as her own, and through Echo she felt Broze dying. Suffering. They were all in pain, some more than others.

Sakura dropped her lightsaber and ran up to her side.

"Please stop screaming! My ears can't take it!" Sakura said.

"I can't! It hurts so much!" Ash said through clenched teeth. Sakura helped her up and took her tried to get her to go to the Med Center, but she refused. Instead she told her to take her to her room. Sakura was practically carrying her. Ash stumbled all over the place and could barely hold herself up. The pain was incredible. She couldn't believe Echo was experiencing that much pain. But then she realized that most of the physical pain was coming from Broze.. The mental pain was coming from Echo.

When they reached Ash's room, Sakura sat her down on her bed.

"What in blazes is going on?" Sakura said.

"It's Echo. I can feel her in my head, and through her I can feel Broze."

She paused and looked Sakura in the eyes.

"He's dying in front of her eyes. I can almost see it," she said. Tears where coming to her eyes because it hurt so much.

"Is there any way you can stop seeing it?" Sakura asked.

"Usually I'm able to control what I see in my sister's head, but she over powering me and I'm seeing everything. I can't…stop it," Ash said.

"Do you want me to knock you out?" Sakura asked.

"WHAT?" Ash said, confused.

"If I knock you out you might not feel the pain as much," Sakura said.

Ash just stared at her.

"I'm only trying to help," Sakura said.

Ash thought about it. It was crazy enough to just maybe work.

"Do it," Ash said.

"Really?" Sakura said.

"Yes really, why do you think I said 'do it'?" Ash practically screamed at her.

"Okay, okay. You may feel a little discomfort," Sakura said.

"It can't be any worse than what I'm feeling right now!" Ash said.

Sakura stood in front of her and placed her hands on Ash's head. She thought for a second that her head would actually explode, but then the pain released and she passed out where she couldn't feel her sister and there was only darkness. Her last thought was…

How in the name of the Force did Sakura do that?

She awoke with people screaming in her ears. This time there were two people.

"HELLO!?" she hears Sakura saying. There was another person shaking her as well.

"What in the name of the Force are you guy's doin?" she said, a little drowsy.

"Waking you up you lazy Hutt!" Sakura said.

Ash sat up on her bed and looked around. Sakura sat on a chair in front of her while a muscular man with chocolate brown, almost black hair that curled up around his face with long bands and hair that that went down the his neck. He was really cute for a Jedi.

"Who's you're new friend?" she asked.

"This is Kiro. He's been a friend of mine for a long time, even before I was taken captive all those years ago. He's pretty awesome."

"Yes I have to agree, I'm pretty awesome," Kiro said. Ash laughed at him. She loved people who have a sense of humor.

"Nice to meet you Kiro," Ash said sitting up and shaking his hand. He looked up to the shelf above her bed where she kept her lightsabers.

"That's a pretty nice collection you have," he said. "I only have one lightsaber, and it took me a LONG time to build it."

"Thanks. Ya, I'm kinda mechanically inclined, but not as much as my sister. She can build pretty much anything," Ash said with a laugh. Then she remembered her sister and her headache began to come back. Sakura must have sensed her frustration.

"Okay, just relax. Lay back down. I don't want you busting my ear drums again."

"No, it's okay. What ever pain she was feeling it's not as bad know, although she's still in misery. I can barely…feel Broze," Ash said holding her head. "He might not make it."

"Have faith," Kiro said. "I've heard of Broze. He's a pretty amazing Jedi. He can make it."

Ash practically screamed at him.

"Do you even know the PAIN I felt through my sister? You don't have any idea!"

"Hey, keeps your nerf's in a herd! I was just trying to help!" Kiro said.

Ash relaxed and sat back against her bed again.

"You're right. I shouldn't have over reacted, but it's so hard to relate to anybody else besides my sister. We share thoughts. I don't have a kinda bond with anybody else," Ash said sighing.

Sakura put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know you hate it when I'm nice, but don't worry, it won't last long," she said. Then her comlink buzzed.

"Excuse me," she said and got out of her chair and stepped to the other side of the room. Ash tried to listen as closely as she could. Sakura clipped her comlink back to her belt and stepped back over.

"There's a ship about to land that matches the type Echo has. We should probably go see if it's her," she said.

Ash jumped off the bed. She wasn't feeling bad anymore and she practically ran to the docking bay. They got there as soon as Echo's ship, the Ash Fighter, was landing.. Ash, Kiro, and Sakura stood outside the back hatchway until they came out. They didn't have to wait long. Ash could feel her sister's misery like a thermal detonator exploding inside her head. Something really bad had happened.

The door opened slowly. Kali and Hiro were carrying Broze out of the ship with Echo following close behind. Her eyes were red from the tears and she was biting her nails.

Broze looked like her was dead. It didn't look like her was breathing and he had a huge blaster wound near his heart. To add to that, there was a huge puncture on his left arm that wouldn't stop bleeding, It was bleeding through the bandage they had rapped around it. Ash grabbed her comlink and commed the Med Center.

"I need a Med Team down in the Docking Bay NOW!" she said. The man started to object but she interrupted her.

"I don't care! It's an emergency! Someone's life could depend on if you're fast enough or not!" she yelled. The man agreed and said he was sending down a group right now.

Kali and Hiro laid Broze gently down on the hatch door now that it was happened. Ash ran up and checked his pulse. He barely had one.

"Broze…what happened too you guys?!" she almost screamed.

Kali had whip marks all over her. Hiro had huge scares on her stomach and whip marks as well. Echo was the only one that looked half way decent, although she looked like she had been crying her years. She stood up and ran up to her sister and looked her in the eyes.

"Echo…what happened?" she said slowly.

"I…I…I killed him," she said. Ash didn't believe her words.

"Could you repeat that?" she asked.

"I killed him Ash! I let him die in front of my eyes!" Echo screamed at her.

"I know…I felt it. It was quite painful," Ash said. She hugged her sister.

"We'll make sure he's alright," Ash said. She looked back done to Broze. She rethought her sentence. She had no idea if they could save Broze or not.

"Echo, Kali, Hiro, I'd like to introduce you to someone," she motioned Kiro to come over.

"This is Kiro. He's a new friend. He'll help us out."

"Don't worry. I'm at your service," he said smiling. His smile was really cute too. It was a crooked smile, almost like most Corellians have.

Sakura walked up and stood beside Kiro. Then, the Med Group came running into the docking bay.

"What seems to be the problem…" a human female said, but when she saw the group and Broze, she didn't need an answer. She motioned her group over and picked Broze onto a medical bed and pushed him out of the docking bay and into the Med Center. Everyone else followed, although when they got there, no body was allowed into his room. Ash was scared. She tried to fill her sister's thought with happy ones, but she wouldn't let her into her head. She just wanted to be alone.

The stood outside of his room and waited and waited. It seemed for hours that they stood outside of his room.

Finally the human that talked to them early came out.

"He's awake…but barely. He's asking to see Echo Chi," she said..

Echo brightened up a lot. A smile came to her face and she jumped out of her chair and headed into the room.

It wasn't long before she heard chaos in Broze's room.

Through a muffled door she heard Echo saying that she couldn't leave Broze, but then someone ordered her out.

Echo's eyes were even redder than when she came in. Ash felt her sadness in the Force.

"I…I don't know what's happening…," she said and ran up to Ash and hugged her. Ash hugged her sister back.

"I don't know if I can stand to loose him," Echo whispered in her ear. "First Nya, now him. I don't think I can take it."

Echo was actually shaking.

"He's not dead yet," Ash said. "All we can do is hope."

Echo looked at her and smiled.

"Do you know how much that means to me?" she said.

"I already read you're thoughts…I know it means a lot…that's why I said it," Ash said with a smile on her face too.

"Come on, let's take you to you're room," Ash said and lead Echo back to her room. She almost had to drag her. Sakura, Kiro, Juno, Hiro, and Kali followed.

Ash sat Echo down on her bed and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Okay…what happened?" Ash asked Echo.

Echo didn't reply. Ash knew why.

"Guys," she said talking to her friends, "I don't mean to sound rude but I…" Ash said, but her friends already knew what they were going to say.

"Of course," Kiro said and flashed her a Corellian smile as he got up and everyone followed him. She smiled back at him. He is sooo cute, she thought to herself.

Ash has a boyfriend, Ash has a boyfriend, Echo taunted. Although Ash knew she didn't mean to say it through their Force bond, she could still sense it.

As soon as everyone left, Ash turned and glared blaster bolts at Echo.

"He is NOT my boyfriend! It's against the Jedi Code!" Ash said.

"Well if you weren't always reading my thoughts you wouldn't have known I thought that," Echo replied.

"I only keep a steady connection between us because I need to know that you're okay."

Echo stared at her.

"I wish you would just get out of my head and out of my life!" Echo screamed at her.

Ash stared back at her. Echo hadn't been the same since she learned Broze lad gone missing.

"What is wrong with you?! You've been doing that forever! I'm you're sister, you can share anything with me!"

Echo calmed down.

"I know…I'm sorry. It's just…I let him die," Echo said quieting down.

"He isn't dead. Why don't you just tell me what happened?" Ash asked patiently.

Echo nodded and explained everything to her; how they landed on the planet and walked right into Yorra's (crazy insane Jedi hunter) scientific lab. How Echo had been forced to choose between her friends of who would die. Echo had refused and Broze, who was already incredibly wounded, volunteered himself. Echo had released her anger in order to save him, but it only got him shot in the chest.

By the end, Ash found herself crying.

"You didn't kill him at all! He offered himself! He realized that he was dead meat! You shouldn't feel bad at all…although I'm glad none of you ended up dying," Ash cried out. She just said what she was feeling. Echo shouldn't feel like this. There were evil people in the world and sometimes good people got caught up in the middle of it.

"I let him go through the torture!" Echo yelled, and then tried to calm herself down.

Ash looked at her. "What else could you have done? In the end you saved him."

"Saved him?!" Echo yelled at her. "He's fighting for his life right now!"

Echo couldn't take her anymore and ran out of her room and slammed the door in Ash's face.

Ash just stared at the door. She should have kept quiet.. Now her sister hated her.

I hate it when we fight, she thought..

Then she sensed someone outside of Echo's door.

"Come in," Ash said.

The door opened and Kiro walked in.

"I hope I'm not intruding, but by the way things looked, your sister's not to happy right now. I though you might want someone friendly to talk to right now," he said.

"She is friendly, most of the time," Ash said as Kiro sat down on a chair next to the bed.

"It's just…we can share anything, and this last incident with Broze has made her…distant," Ash continued and looked down.

Kiro pulled her head up to look at him. Ash was surprised that he was actually listening to her. For once someone would let her vent.

"Hey, cheer up! She's just having a hard time. Just stick to it and she'll come too eventually," he said, jokingly punching her in the shoulder.

Ash giggled.

"Thank you, you're really helping me here," Ash said smiling.

She took a risk and got off the bed and hugged him.

"You have no idea how important it is to me to have a friend that will actually listen," Ash said and sat back down on the bed.

"No problem," he said. "Anytime you need to talk, just call me."

Ash could tell that they clicked. They were going to be really good friends.

Just then both of their comlinks rang. Mace Windu's voice came over the speaker.

"You are to come to the docking bay right away. The Jedi are under attack on Geonosis and we need all the help we can get," Mace said, and then signed off.

"So much for having time to catch things up with my sister," Ash said and stood up. Kiro did too.

"Hey, maybe this will be some bonding time. At lot can happen when a battle's going on," Kiro said.

"You're right about that!" Ash said and lead the way out the door.

"So, what are some of you're talents?" Kiro asked as they ran to the docking bay.

"I have a love for lightsaber combat," Ash said as they turned a corner.

"I've noticed that. When I was young, I was studying under Cin Drallig until he picked you to be his padawan, "Kiro said.

"Cin has good taste," Ash said with a cocky smile and looked at Kiro.

Kiro looked at her and gave her his cute smile.

"Ya, he does have good taste," he said back to her.

Sith Blood, I think I'm in love, Ash thought to herself. Wait a minute, I'm a Jedi. This type of love is forbidden! Snap out of it Ash!

They finally got to the docking bay. Ash was surprised to see tons of other Jedi in the docking bay.

"Wow…this must be a pretty big ordeal," Ash said.

"I suppose so," Kiro said.

They walked in and Mace Windu walked up to them.

"Hurry up guys. Get in you're starfighters and get prepared to follow myself and Master Unduli. We'll explain the rest on the way through hyperspace."

"Right away Master!" Ash and Kiro said at the same time, already running to the starfighters. Ash then felt her sister's presence come into the docking bay. She was glad she had been called on this mission too. At the other end of the docking bay, she saw Echo and another man.

"Wait a minute Kiro, we have to go talk to my sister," Ash said and turned to run to her. Kiro just followed and didn't ask any questions. He knew how important between them were right now.

Ash got closer and got a better look at the man with Echo. He was tall, muscular, and had long black hair in a loose pony-tail.

"Who's your new friend?" Ash asked as she ran up to her.

"This is Xiang," Echo introduced him as they got closer. Ash could tell that Echo liked the guy. He was decent looking, Ash had to admit. As soon as they got close to them, Ash could sense Kiro become uncomfortable, and he wouldn't meet Xiang's gaze.

"Do you have any idea what's going on here?" Ash asked.

"Master Kenobi, Skywalker, and Senator Amidala have been taken captive by the separatists. We're going to rescue them," Xiang said.

"We need this many Jedi to rescue 3 people?" Kiro said.

"Apparently the council believes there will be more than we expect when we get there," Echo said.

"Well then, we better get going," Ash said and turned around to go back to her starfighter. Kiro followed.

Master Kenobi was a legend around the temple, and Anakin Skywalker was too. She couldn't believe that they were the ones that had been captured. She had heard of Senator Amidala, but she didn't now much about her.

"Why were you uncomfortable back there?" she asked Kiro as they walked back to their ships. The hangar bay was crazy.

"How did you know I was uncomfortable?" Kiro asked.

"I can read you like a book…you don't like Xiang. Why?" Ash asked.

Kiro sighed as they got to their ships. There was a pair of starfighters right next to each other that weren't being used yet. Ash started hers up and so did Kiro. They both got in each one and prepared to launch.

Ash opened a private channel to Kiro's starfighter.

"You still haven't told me why?" she said looking out her cockpit window to him. "I wined to you, now I can listen to you wine for a little bit."

Kiro sighed again over the channel and looked at her.

"We weren't the best of friends when we were little. In fact, we were rivalries."

Kiro paused for a second.

"My very first master dumped me for him. He believed that Xiang had more potential. Except he didn't tell me that right to my face. I over heard him talking to someone. It was the worst day of my life."

Ash's mouth dropped. She had never heard of a master doing that to their apprentice.

"Kiro…I'm so sorry. I had no idea," she said.

"It's okay. My old master is dead now. I don't hold anything against him, but I still feel that Xiang is better than me, and my master died thinking that. I have vowed to show Xiang that I'm a better Jedi than he is."

Ash almost shuddered. Kiro really had deep dislike for Xiang. It must have really torn him up inside.

"Don't worry, I won't steal your master or padawan or…anything from you," Ash said.

She saw Kiro smile in his cockpit, and then Mace Windu's voice came over the channel.

"Let's get moving. Follow myself and Master Unduli's starfighter out of the atmosphere and then get ready for hyperspace. Be prepared for anything when we exit hyperspace."

Ash watched Mace's ship pick up and leave the hangar bay. Other ships followed and so did Ash and Kiro. They kept their ships close to each other.

They hadn't known each other long, but Ash already thought that they were forming a bond. They just clicked.

Ash exited the atmosphere and pulled the throttle back, watching the stars turn into starlines as they disappeared into hyperspace.


End file.
